by cpr2816
Railroad Forums
Moderators: Komachi, Ken V
CPHOG wrote:I honestly think, the Soo line, the DME and all the ICE lines will be up for sale by the time this is all said and done, i work out of St paul and have never in my entire career seen CP turining and dropping bussiness as they have been in the past 6 months, another carrier such as UP will probally scoop up most of us,,, sad to say and hear,,, this is what exactly happened to the milwaukee road..............You know, if that did happen I'd be ok with that if it meant the Soo Line name would return and get all their old lines back. It's possible since the Soo technically exists on paper as a US subsidiary. But I highly doubt that'd happen, just wishful thinking from an overzealous Soo fan
Minneapolitan wrote:If this is true about CP selling their SD60s, I'd believe it. Not because that makes sense, but because it doesn't. That's Canadian Pacific.Just wondering since I don't work for the railroad but how are you guys liking the SD30C-ECO's? I haven't seen them on the DM&E since summer but if you've ran them were they any better than the SD40's/SD60's?
Occasionally, these SD60s make their way onto the DM&E. They're always welcomed. Here on the DM&E, we have crap. Absolute crap. Our SD40s have been run into the ground (sometimes literally) for decades. The original DME SD40s still in use were mostly from the Milwaukee Road, who deferred maintenance way back then. The independent DM&E did what they could, but now CP has completely neglected them. Most ICE SD40s came from the BN. They seem slightly better but serious wear and neglect is showing more and more. All over the DM&E/IC&E system there are locomotives that won't load amps, bad traction motors that must be cut out, water leaking to the point where they must be shut down, bad antennas, etc etc etc... Many of them just don't pull as well as they used to. This is all happening en route, by the way.
For those unfamiliar with the DM&E, don't be fooled by the stereotypical flat Midwestern prairie. The DM&E has big hills in Minnesota alone that are a constant plague on our operations so long as we have crappy locomotives. Going west out of the Mississippi Valley is a massive hill. We've had locomotives blow with oil everywhere not even ten miles from departure in Minn City. Westbound trains also struggle between Rochester and Byron and just west of New Ulm. Eastbound trains are even more likely to stall. Lime Hill east of Mankato kills at least one train a week. Between Rochester and Eyota is one massive ascending grade known as "Haverhill." St. Charles Hill isn't quite as bad but does have curves. I've been lucky - I've only stalled once but it was on St. Charles Hill.
These stalls and mechanical failures are regular on the DM&E. They delay everything. Crews reach their twelve hours and have to be recrewed. All other trains get delayed. Wayfreights are taken off their work serving customers to use their power to help. Yards get backed up because trains must continue without adding tonnage.
It's ridiculous. This is no way to run a railroad. The DM&E is profitable but it NEEDS better locomotives. Only CP could consider selling off good power while the DM&E starves. Harrison claims the CP is going to use every resource it has to turn things around. Pffft.